Daily Readings Reflection for 10/22/10

Scripture: Lectionary 477. Paul pleads with us to live out our union with
Christ (our discipleship) with humility, meekness, and patience. We are to
bear up with one another lovingly. This will help the community, the
church or the Body of Christ to be at peace and unity among all of the
different peoples who are called to believe in Jesus because of the gift of
faith. Paul again has Trinitarian images within his exhortation as well as
the triad of theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. We see the latter
in the above word “lovingly”, then in “hope given to all”, and being “one
in faith.” He addresses his exhortation through the Spirit to the Father
and in the Lord. The Trinity is the source of our life and it is the goal
of our journeying with Jesus as Paul did.

Psalm 24 is also an encouragement to seek the face of the Lord. We see
that face in the Person of Jesus, son of God become real among us through
his birth of Mary. The Psalm tells us we can be purified for seeing God in
the Temple by our having pure intentions, honoring God’s sacred Name, and
by our not speaking falsehoods to another person.

In the Gospel Jesus uses an expression that will become part of the renewal
spirit of the whole Catholic Church in the document of the Constitution on
the Church. How? By reading the signs of the times. Jesus tells the
ordinary person of his time they know how to read the signs of nature why
not do the same for reading the signs of God. Ignatius of Antioch will be
the first apostolic father and writer who actually uses the expression
“reading the signs of the times.” By this he meant to know and understand
the world in which we live and to change it into something better through
our sharing the Good News and our spreading the good values necessary for a
wholesome life. Rules of discernment are necessary for reading the signs of
the times as well as a good critical insight into what is good and what is
not good. Our conscience when correctly formed with Christian values and
teachings can help us to do this. Then we are not simply searchers for
being relevant; rather we are those who develop good habits and share the
effects of them in what we say and do for others in a very secular and
individualistic world of people.

We accomplish what both Paul and Jesus encourage us to do when we read the
signs of the times in the light of our reading Scripture, praying, and
participating in the sacraments of the Church. We not only are to make
“healthy choices” in what we eat but also in how we live out the Gospel
message each day. Amen.

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